Compact mid-ir laser

ABSTRACT

A compact mid-IR laser device utilizes a quantum cascade laser to provide mid-IR frequencies suitable for use in molecular detection by signature absorption spectra. The compact nature of the device is obtained owing to an efficient heat transfer structure, the use of a small diameter aspheric lens and a monolithic assembly structure to hold the optical elements in a fixed position relative to one another. The compact housing size may be approximately 20 cm×20 cm×20 cm or less. Efficient heat transfer is achieved using a thermoelectric cooler TEC combined with a high thermal conductivity heat spreader onto which the quantum cascade laser is thermally coupled. The heat spreader not only serves to dissipate heat and conduct same to the TEC, but also serves as an optical platform to secure the optical elements within the housing in a fixed relationship relative on one another. A small diameter aspheric lens may have a diameter of 10 mm or less and is positioned to provided a collimated beam output from the quantum cascade laser. The housing is hermetically sealed to provide a rugged, light weight portable MIR laser source.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/354,237 filed Jan. 15, 2009, and entitled “COMPACT MID-IR LASER,”which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/154,264 filed onJun. 15, 2005, and entitled “Compact Mid-IR Laser,” now U.S. Pat. No.7,492,806. The disclosures of each of the above patent applications arehereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the invention relate to a compact Mid-Infrared (MIR)laser which finds applications in many fields such as, moleculardetection and imaging instruments for use in medical diagnostics,pollution monitoring, leak detection, analytical instruments, homelandsecurity and industrial process control. Embodiments of the inventionare also directed more specifically to the detection of molecules foundin human breath, since such molecules correlate to existing healthproblems such as asthma, kidney disorders and renal failure.

2. Description of the Related Art

MIR lasers of interest herein may be defined as, lasers having a laseroutput wavelength in the range of approximately 3-12 μm(3333-833 cm−1).More broadly, however, “MIR” may be defined as wavelengths within arange of 3-30 μm. The far-IR is generally considered 30 300 μm, whereasthe near IR is generally considered 0.8 to 3.0 μm. Such lasers areparticularly advantageous for use in absorption spectroscopyapplications since many gases of interest have their fundamentalvibrational modes in the mid-infrared and thus present strong, uniqueabsorption signatures within the MIR range.

Various proposed applications of MIR lasers have been demonstrated inlaboratories on bench top apparatuses. Actual application of MIR lasershas been more limited and hampered by bulky size and cost of thesedevices.

One laser gain medium particularly useful for MIR lasers is the quantumcascade laser (QCL). Such lasers are commercially available and areadvantageous in that they have a relatively high output intensity andmay be fabricated to provide wavelength outputs throughout the MIRspectrum. QCL have been shown to operate between 3.44 and 84 μm andcommercial QCL are available having wavelengths in the range of 5 to 11μm. The QCL utilized two different semiconductor materials such asInGaAs and AlInAs (grown on an InP or GaSb substrate for example) toform a series of potential wells and barriers for electron transitions.The thickness of these wells/barriers determines the wavelengthcharacteristic of the laser. Fabricating QCL devices of differentthickness enables production of MIR laser having different outputfrequencies. Fine tuning of the QCL wavelength may be achieved bycontrolling the temperature of the active layer, such as by changing theDC bias current. Such temperature tuning is relatively narrow and may beused to vary the wavelength by approximately 0.27 nm/Kelvin which istypically less than 1% of the of peak emission wavelength.

The QCL, sometimes referred to as Type I Cascade Laser or QuantumCascade Laser, may be defined as a unipolar semiconductor laser based onintersubband transitions in quantum wells. The QCL, invented in 1994,introduced the concept of “recycling” each electron to produce more thanone photon per electron. This reduction in drive current and reductionin ohmic heating is accomplished by stacking up multiple “diode” regionsin the growth direction. In the case of the QCL, the “diode” has beenreplaced by a conduction band quantum well. Electrons are injected intothe upper quantum well state and collected from the lower state using asuperlattice structure. The upper and lower states are both within theconduction band. Replacing the diode with a single-carrier quantum wellsystem means that the generated photon energy is no longer tied to thematerial bandgap. This removes the requirement for exotic new materialsfor each wavelength, and also removes Auger recombination as a problemissue in the active region. The superlattice and quantum well can bedesigned to provide lasing at almost any photon energy that issufficiently below the conduction band quantum well barrier.

Another type of Cascade Laser is the Interband Cascade Laser (ICL)invented in 1997. The ICL, sometimes referred to as a Type II QCL(Cascade Laser), uses a conduction-band to valence-band transition as inthe traditional diode laser, but takes full advantage of the QCL“recycling” concept. Shorter wavelengths are achievable with the ICLthan with QCL since the transition energy is not limited to the depth ofa single-band quantum well. Thus, the conduction band to valance bandtransitions of the Type II QCLs provide higher energy transitions thanthe intra-conduction band transitions of the Type I QCLs. Typicalwavelengths available with the Type II QCL are in the range of 3-4.5 μm,while the wavelengths for the Type I QCLs generally fall within therange of 5-20 μm. While Type II QCLs have demonstrated room temperatureCW operation between 3.3 and 4.2 μm, they are still limited by Augerrecombination. Clever bandgap engineering has substantially reduced therecombination rates by removing the combinations of initial and finalstates required for an Auger transition, but dramatic increases arestill seen with active region temperature. It is expected that over timeimprovements will be made to the ICL in order to achieve the desiredoperating temperature range and level of reliability.

For purposes of the present invention, QCL and ICL may be referred tounder the generic terminology of a “quantum cascade laser” or “quantumcascade laser device”. The laser gain medium referred to herein thusrefers to a quantum cascade laser. In the event that it is needed todistinguish between QCL and ICL, these capitalized acronyms will beutilized.

For the purposes of the present invention, the term “subband” refers toa plurality of quantum-confined states in nano-structures which arecharacterized by the same main quantum number. In a conventionalquantum-well, the subband is formed by each sort of confined carriers byvariation of the momentum for motion in an unconfined direction with nochange of the quantum number describing the motion in the confineddirection. Certainly, all states within the subband belong to one energyband of the solid: conduction band or valence band.

For the purposes of the present invention, the term “nano-structure”refers to semiconductor (solid-state) electronic structures includingobjects with characteristic size of the nanometer (10-9) scale. Thisscale is convenient to deal with quantum wells, wires and dotscontaining many real atoms or atomic planes inside, but being still inthe size range that should be treated in terms of the quantum mechanics.

For the purposes of the present invention term “unipolar device” refersto devices having layers of the same conductivity type, and, therefore,devices in which no p-n junctions are a necessary component.

The development of small MIR laser devices has been hampered by the needto cryogenically cool the MIR lasers (utilizing, for example, a largeliquid nitrogen supply) and by the relatively large size of such deviceshampering their portability and facility of use and thus limiting theirapplicability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, there is provided a MIRlaser device having a monolithic design to permit the component partsthereof to be fixedly secured to a rigid optical platform so as toprovide a highly portable rugged device. The MIR laser has a housing; athermo electric cooling (TEC) device contained within the housing; aheat spreader contained within the housing and positioned either above atop surface of the TEC or above an intermediate plate which ispositioned between the top surface of the TEC and the heat spreader. TheMIR laser has a quantum cascade laser contained within the housing andfixedly coupled to the heat spreader; and an optical lens containedwithin the housing and fixedly mounted to the heat spreader forcollimating light output from the quantum cascade laser and directingthe collimated light to the exterior of the housing. The heat spreaderserves to distribute heat to the TEC and also serves as an opticalplatform to fixedly position said quantum cascade laser and said opticallens relative to one another.

The TEC device provides cooling by means of the well known Peltiereffect in which a change in temperature at the junction of two differentmetals is produced when an electric current flows through the junction.Of particular importance herein, there is no need for bulky and costlycryogenic equipment since liquid nitrogen is not utilized to effectcooling. The TEC device is used to cool the quantum cascade laser in amanner to permit it to stably operate for useful lifetimes in theapplication of interest without cryogenic cooling.

In one embodiment of the invention, the top surface of the TEC deviceserves as a substrate onto which is mounted the heat spreader. The heatspreader is effective to spread the heat by thermal conduction acrossthe upper surface of the TEC device to efficiently distribute the heatfrom the quantum cascade laser to the TEC device for cooling. Inpreferred embodiments of the invention, the heat spreader has a highthermal conductivity such as a thermal conductivity within the range ofapproximately 150-400 W/mK and more preferably in the range ofapproximately 220-250 W/mK. The latter range includes high coppercontent copper-tungstens. An example of a suitable high conductivitymaterial is copper tungsten (CuW), typically a CuW alloy. In accordancewith other embodiments of the invention, a high thermal conductivitysub-mount is employed intermediate the quantum cascade laser and theheat spreader. The high thermal conductivity sub-mount may compriseindustrial commercial grade diamond throughout its entirety or may bepartially composed of such diamond. Diamond is a material of choice dueto its extremely high thermal conductivity. In alternative embodiments,the high thermal conductivity sub-mount may be composed of a diamond topsection in direct contact and a lower section of a different highthermal conductivity material, such as, for example CuW.

In other preferred embodiments, the heat spreader serves as an opticalplatform onto which the quantum cascade laser and the collimating lensare fixedly secured. The optical platform is as a rigid platform tomaintain the relative positions of the lens and quantum cascade laserwhich are secured thereto (either directly or indirectly). The use ofthe heat spreading function and the optical platform function into asingle material structure contributes to the small size and portabilityof the MIR laser device.

The quantum cascade laser is the laser gain medium of preference inaccordance with embodiments of the invention and provides the desiredmid-IR frequencies of interest. The quantum cascade laser may be one ofthe Type I or Type II lasers described above. Such a laser generates arelatively strong output IR beam but also generates quite a bit of heat,on the order of 10 W. Thus, the TEC device is an important componentneeded to remove the heat thereby permitting long lived operation of thequantum cascade laser. The optical lens is positioned such as tocollimate the laser output of the quantum cascade laser to provide acollimated output beam directed outside of the housing. For thispurpose, the quantum cascade laser is positioned a distance away fromthe optical lens equal to the focal length of the optical lens. In thismanner, the source of light from the quantum cascade laser is collectedand sent out as an approximately parallel beam of light to the outsideof the housing.

Preferably, in accordance with embodiments of the invention, the overallsize of the housing is quite small to permit facile portability of theMIR laser device, and for this purpose, the housing may have dimensionsof approximately 20 cm×20 cm×20 cm or less, and more preferably hasdimensions of approximately 3 cm×4 cm×6 cm. Further to achieve thedesired small size and portability, the optical lens is selected to havea relatively small diameter. In preferred embodiments, the diameter ofthe lens is 10 mm or less, and in a most preferred embodiment, thediameter of the lens is approximately equal to 5 mm or less.

Other embodiments of the invention employ additionally an electronicsubassembly incorporated into the housing. The electronic subassemblyhas a switch and a summing node, contained within said housing. The MIRlaser device also has an input RF port for inputting an RF modulatingsignal into the electronic subassembly through an impedance matchingcircuit, and a drive current input terminal electrically connected tosaid quantum cascade laser for inputting drive current to said quantumcascade laser. There is further provided a switching control signalinput terminal for inputting a switching control signal into theelectrical subassembly of the housing for switching said switch betweena first and second state. The first state of the switch passes the drivecurrent to the quantum cascade laser permitting it to operate (onposition of the quantum cascade laser) and the second state of theswitch shunts the drive current to ground thus preventing the drivecurrent from reaching the quantum cascade laser thereby ceasingoperation of the quantum cascade laser (turn it off). Controlling theamount of on time to the amount of off time of the laser causes thelaser to operate in pulse mode, oscillating between the on and offstates at regular intervals according to a duty cycle defined by thetime of the on/off states. This duty cycle control of a laser is wellknown to those skilled in the art and may be used to control the laserto operate in pulsed mode or, in the extreme case, maintaining the laseron all the time results in cw operation of the laser.

The summing node of the electronic subassembly is interposed in anelectrical path between the drive current input terminal and the quantumcascade laser to add the RF modulating signal which is input at the RFinput port to the laser drive current. RF modulation, also known asfrequency modulation, is well known in absorption spectroscopy and isused to increase the sensitivity of a detecting system which detects thelaser beam after it has passed through a sample gas of interest. Theabsorption dip due to absorption of the particular molecules of interestin the sample gas traversed by the laser beam is much easier to detectwhen the laser beam has been frequency modulated.

In accordance with other embodiments of the invention, there is provideda MIR laser device having a housing; a quantum cascade laser containedwithin the housing; and an optical lens contained within the housing andmounted for collimating light output from the quantum cascade laser. Inorder to achieve the small sizes needed for facile portability and easeof use, the optical lens is chosen to be quite small and has a diameterof approximately 10 mm or less. The optical lens is positioned adistance away from the quantum cascade laser equal to its focal lengthso that the optical lens serves to collimate the lens and direct aparallel laser beam toward the exterior of the housing. The housing ispreferably hermetically sealed (to keep out moisture) and provided withan output window through which the collimated laser beam is passed tothe exterior of the housing. In other preferred embodiments, thediameter of the lens is chosen to be 5 mm or less.

The electronic subassembly described above, with its RF modulation andswitch for controlling the duty cycle of operation, may also be used inconnection with the small lens diameter embodiment described immediatelyabove.

In accordance with yet other embodiments of the invention, there isprovided a MIR laser device having a housing; a quantum cascade lasercontained within the housing; and an optical lens contained within thehousing and mounted for collimating light output from the quantumcascade laser. In order to achieve the small sizes needed for facileportability and ease of use, the housing is chosen to be quite small andhas a size of approximately 20 cm×20 cm×20 cm or less. The housing ispreferably hermetically sealed (to keep out moisture) and provided withan output window through which the collimated laser beam is passed tothe exterior of the housing. In other preferred embodiments, the size ofthe housing is approximately 3 cm×4 cm×6 cm.

The MIR laser device, in accordance with principles of embodiments ofthe invention, is very compact and light weight, and uses a quantumcascade laser as the laser gain medium. The quantum cascade laser may beselected for the particular application of interest within the frequencyrange of 3-12 μm by appropriate selection of the thickness of quantumwells and barriers. Such a compact, MIR laser enables a number ofinstruments to be developed in the fields of medical diagnostics,homeland security, and industrial processing, all based on laserabsorption spectroscopy for molecular detection. Importantcharacteristics of the MIR device is the use of a quantum laser as thelaser gain media, short focal length aspheric lens, enhanced coolingtechniques that do not require liquid nitrogen and the use of highintegration and packaging. The resulting structure presents a foot printthat is extremely small with a package size (housing size) ofapproximately 20 cm (height)×20 cm (width)×20 cm (length) or less. Thelength is taken along the optical axis. The packages size may be anyinteger or fraction thereof between approximately 1-20 cm for the lengthdimension combined with any integer or fraction thereof betweenapproximately 1-20 cm in width dimension combined with any integer orfraction thereof between approximately 1-20 cm in the height dimension.A preferred footprint is approximately 3 cm (height)×4 cm (width)×6 cm(length) for the laser package.

Some advantages of the MIR device according to embodiments of theinvention include high brightness with diffraction limited spatialproperties and a narrow spectral width (<100 MHz=0.003 cm−1). Thequantum laser gain medium enables high output power (50 mW) and allowseasy modulation at high frequency with very low chirp. The packagingtechnology is mechanically and environmentally robust with excellentthermal properties and provides for dramatic miniaturization.

In most conventional systems, cryogenic cooling has been required forMIR lasers. In contrast, the MIR laser device, in a preferredembodiment, can be temperature controlled close to room temperaturewithout the need for bulky cryogenic cooling but rather employingthermo-electric coolers. Further, the MIR laser device in accordancewith embodiments of the invention uses a packaging that specificallyaccommodates the designs associated with MIR photonics products withspecific emphasis on thermal, optical and size requirements.

Further conventional drawbacks to a compact MIR laser device resultsfrom the high heat output of quantum cascade lasers- typically 10 W andeven up to 15 W. This heat needs to be removed from the cavityefficiently to maintain cavity temperature and wavelength. This heatload typically requires a large heat sink to effectively remove theheat. In the MIR laser device according to embodiments of the invention,a high conductivity, heat-spreader is used and serves as a small butefficient transfer device to transfer the heat to a thermoelectriccooler.

An additional impediment to a compact MIR laser design is theconventional use of relatively large size lenses associated with MIRradiation. Typically, these lenses are >10-15 mm in diameter and often25 mm or more. In contrast, the MIR laser device, in accordance withembodiments of the invention, uses a small aspheric lenses(approximately equal to or less than 5 mm D) that can be used inconjunction with the quantum cascade laser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C show perspective views of the MIR laser device;

FIGS. 2A and 2B show exploded perspective view of the MIR laser devicewith FIG. 2B being rotated so show a back side of the laser devicerelative to FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the MIR laser device with the top or lidremoved to show the internal structure;

FIG. 4A shows a cross sectional view of the MIR laser device taken alonglines A-A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4B shows an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 4A; and

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of the electronics subassembly of thefirst embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 1A-1C show perspective views of a MIR laser device 2 in accordancewith a first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 1A shows the MIR laserdevice 2 with the housing 4 including the lid or top cover plate 4 a andmounting flanges 4 b. FIGS. 1B and 1C show the MIR laser device 2 withthe lid 4 a removed, thus exposing the interior components. FIGS. 2A and2B show exploded perspective, views of the various components of the MIRlaser. FIGS. 3 and 4A show plan and side views respectively of the laserdevice and FIG. 4B shows an enlarged portion of FIG. 4A.

As may be seen from these figures, the MIR laser device is seen toinclude a laser gain medium 6 mounted on a high thermal conductivitysub-mount 8. There is further provided a temperature sensor 10, a lensholder 12, lens mount 13, output lens 14, and window 16. An outputaperture 18 a is provided in the side of the housing 4 with the windowpositioned therein. The MIR laser device is also comprised a heatspreader 20, cooler 22 and electronics sub-assembly 24. The heatspreader 20 also serves as the optics platform to which the key opticalelements of the laser device are secured. Thus, more precisely, element20 may be referred to as the heat spreader/optical platform and thiscomposite term is sometimes used herein. However, for simplicity,element 20 may be referred to as a “heat spreader” when the heattransfer function is of interest and as an “optical platform” when theplatform features are of interest. The housing 4 is also provided withan RF input port 26 and a plurality of I/O leads 28 which connect to theelectronic sub-assembly 24 and temperature sensor 10.

The lens mount 13, especially as seen in FIGS. 2A and 2B, is seen tocomprise a U-shaped support 13 a, a retention cap 13 b, top screws 13 cand front screws 13 d. The lens 14 is secured within the lens holder 12.The lens holder in turn is secured within the lens mount 13 andspecifically between the lens U-shaped support 13 a and the retentioncap 13 b. Spring fingers 13 e secured to the retention cap 13 b makepressure contact with the top portions of the lens holder 12 when thetop screws 13 c are tightened down to secure the retention cap 13 b tothe U-shaped support 13 a using the top screws 13 c. The front screws 13d secures the U-shaped support 13 a to the optical platform 20. In thismanner, the lens mount 13, (and consequently the lens 14 itself) isrigidly and fixedly secured to the optical platform 20.

The laser gain medium 6 is preferably a quantum cascade laser (eitherQCL or ICL) which has the advantages providing tunable MIR wavelengthswith a small size and relatively high output intensity. Examples of sucha laser include 3.7 μm and 9.0 μm laser manufactured by Maxion. Thesequantum cascade lasers have reflecting mirrors built into the end facetsof the laser gain material. The laser gain medium 6 typically has a sizeof 2 mm×0.5 mm×90 microns and is mounted directly to the high thermalconductivity submount 8 utilizing an adhesive or weld or other suitablemethod of securing same. The high thermal conductivity sub-mount 8 ispreferably made of industrial grade diamond and may have representativedimensions of 2 mm high×2 mm wide×0.5 mm long (length along the beampath). An alternative dimension may be 8 mm high.times.4 mm wide by 2 mmlong. Other materials may also be used as long as they have asufficiently high thermal conductivity sufficient to conduct heat fromthe laser gain medium 6 to the larger heat spreader 20. The thermalconductivity is preferably in the range of 500-2000 W/mK and preferablyin the range of approximately 1500-2000 W/mK. In alternativeembodiments, the high thermal conductivity submount 8 may be made of alayer of diamond mounted on top of a substrate of another high thermalconductive material such as CuW. For example, the overall dimensions ofthe submount may be 8 mm high×4 mm wide×2 mm long (length along the beampath), and it may be composed of a diamond portion of a size 0.5 mmhigh×2 mm wide×2 mm long with the remaining portion having a size of 7.5mm high×2 mm wider 2 mm long and composed of CuW. In a most preferredembodiment of the invention, the size of the housing is 3 cm (height).×4cm (width)×6 cm (length) where the length is taken along the opticalaxis and includes the two mounting flanges 4 b on each end of thehousing 4.

The heat spreader 20 may be fabricated from copper-tungsten or othermaterial having a sufficiently high thermal conductivity to effectivespread out the heat received from the high thermal conductivitysub-mount 8. Moreover heat spreader may be composed of a multilayerstructure of high thermal conductivity. The high thermal conductivitysub-mount 8 may be secured to the heat spreader 20 by means of epoxy,solder, or laser welded.

The heat spreader 20 is placed in direct thermal contact with the cooler22 which may take the form of a thermo-electric cooler (TEC) whichprovides cooling based on the Peltier effect. As best seen in FIG. 4,the cooler 22 is placed in direct thermal contact with the bottom wallof the housing 4 and transfers heat thereto. The bottom surface of theheat spreader 20 may be secured to the top surface of the cooler 22 bymeans of epoxy, welding, solder or other suitable means. Alternatively,an intermediate plate may be attached between the top surface of thecooler 22 and the bottom surface of the heat spreader 20 in order toprovide further rigidity for the optical platform function of the heatspreader 20. This intermediate plate may serve as a substrate on whichthe heat spreader is mounted. If the intermediate plate is not utilized,then the top surface of the TEC heat cooler 22 serves as the substratefor mounting the heat spreader 20.

The laser device 2 may have its housing mounted to a heat sink (notshown) inside a larger housing (not shown) which may also containadditional equipment including cooling fans and vents to further removethe heat generated by the operation of the laser.

The cooler 22 is driven in response to the temperature sensor 10. Thecooler may be driven to effect cooling or heating depending on thepolarity of the drive current thereto. Currents up to 10-A may berequired to achieve temperature stability in CW operation, with lessrequired in pulsed operation. Temperature variations may be used toeffect a relatively small wavelength tuning range on the order 1% orless.

The lens 14 may comprise an aspherical lens with a diameterapproximately equal to or less than 10 mm and preferably approximatelyequal to or less than 5 mm. Thus, the focal length may be one ofapproximately 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,18, 19, or 20 mm and any fractional values thereof. The focal length ofthe lens 14 is fabricated to be approximately ½ the size of thediameter. Thus, 10 mm diameter lens will have a focal length ofapproximately 5 mm, and a 5 mm diameter lens will have a focal length ofapproximately 2.5 mm. In practice, the lens focal length is slightlylarger than ½ the diameter as discussed below in connection with thenumeric aperture. The lens 14 serves as a collimating lens and is thuspositioned a distance from the laser gain medium 6 equal to its focallength. The collimating lens serves to capture the divergent light fromthe laser gain medium and form a collimated beam to pass through thewindow 16 to outside the housing 4. The diameter of the lens is selectedto achieve a desired small sized and to be able to capture the lightfrom the laser gain medium which has a spot size of approximately 4 μm×8μm.

The lens 14 may comprise materials selected from the group of Ge, ZnSe,ZnS Si, CaF, BaF or chalcogenide glass. However, other materials mayalso be utilized. The lens may be made using a diamond turning ormolding technique. The lens is designed to have a relatively largenumerical aperture (NA) of approximately of 0.6. Preferably the NA is0.6 or larger. More preferably, the NA is approximately 0.7. Mostpreferably, the NA is approximately 0.8 or greater. To first order theNA may be approximated by the lens diameter divided by twice the focallength. Thus, selecting a lens diameter of 5 mm with a NA of 0.8 meansthat the focal length would be approximately 3.1 mm. The lens 14 has anaspheric design so as to achieve diffraction limited performance withinthe laser cavity. The diffraction limited performance and ray tracingwithin the cavity permits selection of lens final parameters dependenton the choice of lens material.

The small focal length of the lens is important in order to realize asmall overall footprint of the laser device 2. Other factorscontributing to the small footprint include the monolithic design of thevarious elements, particularly as related to the positioning of theoptical components and the ability to efficiently remove the largeamount of heat from the QCL serving as the laser gain medium 6.

The monolithic advantages of the described embodiments result fromutilizing the heat spreader/optical platform 20 as an optical platform.The output lens 14 and laser gain medium 6 are held in a secured, fixedand rigid relationship to one another by virtue of being fixed to theoptical platform 20. Moreover, the electronic subassembly is also fixedto the optical platform 20 so that all of the critical components withinthe housing are rigidly and fixedly held together in a stable manner soas to maintain their relative positions with respect to one another.Even the cooler 22 is fixed to the same optical platform 20. Since thecooler 22 takes the form of a thermoelectric cooler having a rigid topplate mounted to the underside of the optical platform 20, the opticalplatform 20 thereby gains further rigidity and stability. Thethermoelectric cooler top plate is moreover of approximately the samesize as the bottom surface of the heat spreader/optical platform 20 thusdistributing the heat over the entire top surface of the cooler 22 andsimultaneously maximizing the support for the optical platform 20.

The heat spreader/optical platform 20 is seen to comprise a side 20 a, atop surface 20 b, a front surface 20 c, a step 20 d, a recess 20 e andbridge portion 20 f and a heat distributing portion 20 g. The electronicsubassembly 24 is secured to the top surface 20 b. The laser gain medium6 may be directly secured to the bridge portion 20 f. If an intermediatehigh thermal conductivity submount 8 is used between the laser gainmedium 6 and the bridge portion 20 f, the submount 8 is directly mountedto the bridge portion 20 f and the laser gain medium 6 is secured to thesubmount 8. The lens mount is secured to the front surface of theoptical platform 20 via the front screws 13 d. As best seen in FIG. 4A,a portion of the lens holder 12 is received within the recess 20 e. Itmay further be seen that the surface of the lens 14 proximate the lasergain medium 6 is also contained within the recess 20 e. Such anarrangement permits the lens, with its extremely short focal length, tobe positioned a distance away from the laser gain medium 6 equal to itsfocal length so that the lens 14 may serve as a collimating lens. Theremaining portions of the lens 14 and the lens holder 12 not receivedwithin the recess 20 e are positioned over the top surface of the step20 d. The heat distributing surface 20 g of the heat spreader/opticalplatform 20 is seen to comprise a flat rigid plate that extendssubstantially over the entire upper surface of the thermo electriccooler 22. Other than the screw attachments, the elements such as thetemperature sensor 10, laser gain medium 6, high thermal conductivitysubmount 8 and electronics subassembly 24 may be mounted to the heatspreader/optical platform 20 by means of solder, welding, epoxy, glue orother suitable means. The heat spreader/optical platform 20 ispreferably made from a single, integral piece of high thermalconductivity material such as a CuW alloy.

The housing 4 is hermetically sealed and for this purpose the lid 4 amay incorporate an “O” ring or other suitable sealing component and maybe secured to the housing side walls in an air tight manner, e.g., weldor solder. Prior to sealing or closure, a nitrogen or an air/nitrogenmixture is placed in the housing to keep out moisture and humidity. Thewindow 16 and RF input port 26 present air tight seals.

The temperature sensor 10 may comprise an encapsulated integratedcircuit with a thermistor as the temperature sensor active component. Asuitable such sensor is model AD 590 from Analog Devices. Thetemperature sensor 10 is positioned on the heat spreader 20 immediatelyadjacent the laser gain medium 6 and is effective to measure thetemperature of the laser gain medium 6. As best seen in FIGS. 1C and 2Athe temperature sensor 10 as well as the laser gain medium 6 are indirect thermal contact with the heat spreader 20. The temperature sensor10 is in direct physical and thermal contact with the heat spreader 20.In one embodiment, the laser gain medium 6 is in direct physical andthermal contact with the high thermal conductivity submount 8. However,in other embodiments, the high thermal conductivity submount 8 may beeliminated and the laser gain medium 6 may be secured in direct physicaland thermal contact with the heat spreader 20 with all other elements ofthe laser device remaining the same. The temperature sensor 10 isconnected to the I/O leads 28. The temperature output is used to controlthe temperature of the cooler 22 so as to maintain the desired level ofheat removal from the laser gain medium 6. It may also be used toregulate and control the injection current to the laser gain medium 6which also provides a temperature adjustment mechanism. Varying thetemperature of the laser gain medium 6 serves to tune the laser, e.g.,vary the output wavelength.

The electronic sub-assembly 24 is used to control the laser gain medium6 by controlling the electron injection current. This control is done byusing a constant current source. In effect the quantum cascade laserbehaves like a diode and exhibits a typical diode I-V response curve.For example, at and above the threshold current, the output voltage isclamped to about 9 volts.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of the electronics subassembly 24. Theelectronics subassembly is seen to comprise capacitors C1 and C2,resistor R1, inductor L1, a summing node 30, switch 32, and leads 28 aand 28 b. A trace or transmission line 34 a, 34 b (see also FIG. 3)interconnects components. The polarities of the electronics subassembly24 are selected for a chip arrangement in which the epitaxial layer ofthe quantum cascade laser is positioned downwardly. Polarities would bereversed if the epitaxial layer side is positioned upwardly.

The RF input port 26 is seen to be fed along the transmission line 34 ato one side of the first capacitor C1. Resistor R1, which may comprise athin film resistor, is positioned between capacitors C1 and C2 andconnects the junction of these capacitors to ground. The capacitors andresistor implement an impedance matching circuit to match the lowimpedance of the quantum cascade laser with the 50 ohm input impedanceline of the RF input cable. Transmission line 34 b interconnectsinductor L1 with the switch 32 and connects to the laser gain medium 6.The inductor L1 is fed by a constant current source (not shown) via oneof the I/O leads, here identified as lead 28 a. Inductor L1 serves toblock the RF from conducting out of the housing through the current lead28 a. Similarly, a function of the capacitor C2 is to prevent the DCconstant current form exiting the housing via the RF port 26. The switch32 may take the form of a MOSFET and is biased by a switching controlsignal (TTL logic) fed to I/O lead 28 b. Controlling the duty cycle ofthis switching control signal controls the relative on/off time of theMOSFET which is operative to pass the drive current either to the lasergain medium 6 (when the MOSFET is off) or to shunt the drive current toground (when the MOSFET is on). With TTL logic in the illustratedcircuit, a 0 volt switching control signal turns MOSFET off and thus thequantum cascade laser on, and a −5 volt switching control signal turnsthe MOSFET on and thus the quantum cascade laser off. By controlling theswitching control signal duty cycle, pulse or cw operation may berealized.

An RF input signal is fed to the RF input port 26. This RF signal isused to frequency modulate the drive current signal to the laser gainmedium 6 and is summed with the drive current at the summing node 30.Frequency modulation is commonly used to improve sensitivity inabsorption spectroscopy. The center frequency is scanned across theexpected resonance (using, for example, temperature tuning achieved byvariation of the TEC cooler 22 or variation of the current fed to thequantum cascade laser). Frequency modulation places sidebands about thecenter frequency, and during the wavelength scanning a strong RFmodulation may be observed when off resonance due to an imbalance in theabsorption of the frequency sidebands. FM modulation thus effectivelyproduces an AM modulation of the absorption signal. However, atresonance, the effect of the frequency sidebands is of opposite phaseand equal magnitude so they cancel out. Sweeping the frequency about theresonance peak (dip) using FM modulation thus permits one to pinpointmore accurately the center of the absorption line which corresponds to aminimum in the AM modulation over the sweep range. Techniques for FMmodulation are well known to those skilled in the art and reference ismade to the following articles incorporated herein by reference:Transient Laser Frequency Modulation Spectroscopy by Hall and North,Annu Rev. Phys. Chem. 2000 51:243-74.

The quantum cascade lasers utilized herein have an intrinsically highspeed. Thus, to effectively perform FM modulation, the modulated signalmust be injected in close proximity to the quantum cascade laser toeliminate any excess inductance or capacitances associated with thelaser connections to the RF signal. This is especially important inquantum cascade lasers which present a fairly low impedance and thus thereactance of the connections will critically limit the speed with whichthe device can be modulated. The circuit design as disclosed hereinpresents an extremely small footprint for connections of the RF input tothe quantum cascade laser. Thus, for a 1 GHz modulation frequency, arepresentative range of transmission lengths from the RF input port 26to the laser gain medium (QCL) (the sum of 34 a and 34 b) is 2-4 cm orless generally less than or equal to 4 cm. A preferred value isapproximately 3 cm. If one desires to choose a broadband input for theFM modulation restricting the maximum frequency to 1 GHz, then theoptimal transmission length is approximately 1 cm or greater. Such atransmission length would permit operating at 100 MHz for example orother values up to the 1 GHz level. Thus, in performing FM modulation ofthe quantum cascade laser a small transmission path is optimal in orderto present a low inductance path to the QCL thereby permittingrelatively high modulating frequency to be used. The small transmissionpaths may be suitably contained with the structures of the disclosedelectronic subassembly 24.

It is noted that the entire electronic subassembly 24 is rigidly andfixedly mounted on the heat spreader 20 which serves, as indicated aboveas an optical platform. The fixing of the transmission lines and otherelectronic components to the optical platform achieves a rugged designwhich is largely insensitive to outside vibrational disturbances.

The input leads 28 are seen to comprise leads 28 and 28 b and the RFinput port 26 described above. Other I/O leads to the housing 4 includethe +temp drive signal lead for the TEC to cause the TEC to be heated, a−temp drive signal lead to cause the TEC to be cooled, the temperaturesensor input lead to provide a bias voltage to the thermistortemperature sensor, a temperature output lead to provided an outputsignal for the temperature sensor and a ground return path for theconstant current input to the quantum cascade laser.

While the invention has been describe in reference to preferredembodiments it will be understood that variations and improvements maybe realized by those of skill in the art and the invention is intendedto cover all such modifications that fall within the scope of theappended claims.

1. A handheld target marker viewable by a thermal imaging system, themarker comprising: (a) a compact housing having an interior and anexterior; (b) a quantum cascade laser retained in the interior of thehousing for emitting a beam at a thermal infrared wavelength along abeam path, a portion of the beam path extending from the housing to atarget being substantially optically direct; (c) a driver retainedwithin the housing and operably connected to the quantum cascade lasercausing the quantum cascade laser to emit the beam along the beam path(d) a lens located in the beam path; and (e) an imager to capture theimage of target.
 2. The handheld target marker of claim 1, wherein thewavelength of the beam is between approximately 2-30 microns.
 3. Thehandheld target marker of claim 1, wherein the marker is one of adesignator, a pointer, and an aiming device.
 4. The handheld targetmarker of claim 1, further comprising a temperature controller thermallycoupled to the quantum cascade laser.
 5. The handheld target marker ofclaim 4, wherein the temperature controller is one of a Peltier moduleand a Stirling module.
 6. The handheld target marker of claim 1, furthercomprising a diffractive optic in the beam path.
 7. The handheld targetmarker of claim 6, wherein the diffractive optic collimates the beam. 8.The handheld target marker of claim 6, wherein the diffractive optic ismovable relative to the beam path.
 9. The handheld target marker ofclaim 6, wherein the diffractive optic is fixed relative to the beampath.
 10. The handheld target marker of claim 1, wherein the powersupply is operably connected to the both the quantum cascade laser andthe driver.
 11. A method of marking a target comprising: (a)intersecting a thermal infrared beam from a quantum cascade laserretained in a handheld housing, a portion of a beam path extending fromthe housing to the target being substantially optically direct; (b)capturing a portion of the beam; and (c) imaging the target and at leasta portion of the beam.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprisingforming the infrared beam to have a wavelength between approximately 8microns and 30 microns.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprisingforming the infrared beam to have a wavelength between approximately 2microns and 5 microns.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprisingsealing the quantum cascade laser in the housing.
 15. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising hermetically sealing the quantum cascadelaser in the housing.
 16. A weapons-mounted target marker viewable by athermal imaging system, the marker comprising: (a) a housing mounted toa firearm, the housing having an interior and an exterior; (b) a quantumcascade laser retained in the interior of the housing for emitting abeam at a thermal infrared wavelength along a beam path; (c) a driverretained within the housing and operably connected to the quantumcascade laser; (d) a lens located in the beam path; and (e) an imager.17. The weapons-mounted target marker of claim 16, wherein thewavelength of the beam is between approximately 2-30 microns.
 18. Theweapons-mounted target marker of claim 16, wherein the marker is one ofa designator, a pointer, and an aiming device.
 19. The weapons-mountedtarget marker of claim 16, further comprising a temperature controllerthermally coupled to the quantum cascade laser.
 20. The weapons-mountedtarget marker of claim 19, wherein the temperature controller is one ofa Peltier module and a Stirling module.
 21. The weapons-mounted targetmarker of claim 16, further comprising a diffractive optic in the beampath.
 22. The weapons-mounted target marker of claim 21, wherein thediffractive optic collimates the beam.
 23. The weapons-mounted targetmarker of claim 21, wherein the diffractive optic is movable relative tothe beam path.
 24. The weapons-mounted target marker of claim 21,wherein the diffractive optic is fixed relative to the beam path.